Since when is winning an Oscar a bad thing? In his disparaging NYT review of In a Better World, A.O. Scott uses its recent foreign Oscar win as a warning sign: “In a Better World,” directed by the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier and written by Anders Thomas Jensen, is an elegant, somber scourge for th...

The departure of Relativity Media marketing and distribution chief Peter Adee June 1 after ten months is a typical "blame the messenger" move. In other words, it's age-old industry practice to scapegoat marketing heads when movies aren't working. Adee came in when Relativity acquired Overture's dist...

Weekend box office was up 6 percent over last weekend, led by Russell Brand family pic Hop, which exceeded expectations with the best opening of the year so far, followed by strong ticket sales for indie thrillers Source Code and Insidious. Anthony D'Alessandro reports:Universal’s live-action toon Hop leaped past its industry projections this weekend and bore a litter of cash with $38.1 million – the best bow to date, inching past Rango’s first frame which grossed a few thousand less. Although the frame also served up a number of competitors to Hop--Summit Entertainment’s Source Code earned $15 million in second, FilmDistrict’s horror film In...

It's a mixed bag at the box office this weekend, and the LAT warns that "Easter may still be weeks away, but that won't stop the holiday's iconic bunny from bouncing right over the competition at the box office this weekend." However, there are finer eggs in the basket if you are willing to hunt for...

All is not sweetness and light these days between the Hollywood studios and theater owners. So it's no shock that the exhibs reacted badly when news broke--intentionally, to grab prime media coverage--during their Las Vegas confab of four studios' move to VOD.

Director Joe Wright delivers a tour-de-force E-ride thriller with Focus Features's Hanna, starring an athletic Saoirse Ronan, who able carries the movie, supported by Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. But don't expect much depth--or dialogue for that matter-- from the director of Atonement and Pride & P...

Stunts, legendary studio executives and name auteurs with an eye on the digital future were de rigueur during Wednesday’s CinemaCon. Anthony D'Alessandro digests the latest news from Las Vegas. In a CinemaCon 3-D powwow with directors George Lucas, James Cameron and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, the trio continued to tub-thump the visual format, while warning attendees that 3-D shouldn’t be used frivolously by the studios to pad grosses. Cameron soapboxed the same philosophy about wasteful 3-D pics that he has been vocalizing since last summer, when he attacked Weinstein Co.’s Piranha 3D. The Wrap reported Cameron's lament: “...

Here's a quick overview of news coming out of CinemaCon, the annual theater owners' convention in Las Vegas, from Anthony D'Alessandro: Following new MPAA Chairman Christopher Dodd’s speech Tuesday, National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO John Fithian gave his State of the Industry ...